DELTON --WWMT Newschannel 3 reports that 37-year-old Jason Lee Keiper has been found guilty of first-degree murder for killing his step-grandfather last March.

The report says the verdict was delivered in Hastings on Wednesday and that a sentencing date has yet to be set.

Police say they found Keiper's step-grandfather, Ralph Edwards, dead on March 9 at his home in rural Delton. Officials allege Keiper killed Edwards, who was 81, by striking him several times in the head with a hammer.

Police said Keiper had been living with Edwards at his home on Cedar Creek Road at the time of the incident. When police attempted to arrest him for the crime on the night of March 9 in Battle Creek, they said Keiper stabbed himself
several times in the neck.

He was treated at Bronson Methodist Hospital before being released to authorities.